review of "little ollie's asian cafe" and "mao&quot

[mongo_jones]

http://www.westword.com/issues/2004-01-08/...ml/1/index.html

funny stuff

[hjshorter]

My in-laws order from Little Ollie's (in Cherry Creek) every time we're visiting Denver and just rave about it. I've never understood why.

Edit: I'm sure Mao's will be part of our next visit. It sounds right up their alley.

Edited January 12, 2004 by hjshorter (log)

[fredbram]

There are a couple of really smart things that he has done at Little Ollie's that I think account for it's popularity. In chinese restaurants many americans are always looking for dishes that have lots of veggies in them. In more traditional chinese restaurants, at least in Denver, this is sometimes hard to find, and ends up being water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and cabbage. Little Ollies uses lots of fresh snow peas, asparagus, green beans etc., and they use them in a lot of their dishes. I think people really appreciate that, even if the food is unexciting in other ways. They also have a fairly well trained staff of servers who speak english well, and therefore the customers don't have to deal with language barriers or cultural barriers as much.

That being said, I agree that it is not a very good restaurant, but this is why I think it is popular.

Are there any good chinese restaurants in Denver?, I am so disappointed in the chinese food options.

[mtdew]

I like Ocean City. It might not be what you consider good chinese food. Might be. Standards differ.

[Busboy]

Are there any good chinese restaurants in Denver?, I am so disappointed in the chinese food options.

I lived in Denver for two years and never found a good Chinese place -- the chain thing in LoDo (Charlie Chiang's?) was actually the best Chinese I ate there. There is, however, great Vietnamese on South Federal if you're hankering for Asian but not in a country-specific way.

[fredbram]

Is Ocean City on Alameda? I don't think that I have eaten there, although I seem to recall people recommending it as Dim Sum place.

Denver has some great asian food, vietnamese, thai, pho, indian. I just haven't found good chinese.

[mtdew]

Is Ocean City on Alameda? I don't think that I have eaten there, although I seem to recall people recommending it as Dim Sum place.

Ocean City is on Mississippi and Federal. The dim sum place your referring to is probably Kings Land Seafood Restaurant.

[colestove]

Fred, The Pavillion Chinese restaurant behind Tamarac Square has ans *authentic* menu that you might find interesting. I am no expert on *real* Chinese food but the *normal* food I have had for lunch there was quite good. It is not fancy, the staff and customers were mainly oriental. the phone # is 303-743-9777 if you want to call. BTW My wife and I and some friends went back to Luca d Italia Tues. Still great.

colestove

[fredbram]

You know, I kind of forgot about the Pavillion, we had a couple of pretty good meals there, and then stopped going, I don't even remember why. We should go back again, thanks for the reminder.